


The Trials of the Booty Call Boyfriend

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Starting Over [22]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-09 22:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was only human though, and sometimes keeping a smile on her face while getting brushed off wasn’t easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trials of the Booty Call Boyfriend

He didn’t want to make this phone call. She was going to be pissed. It didn’t matter how wonderful and understanding she was, she was going to be pissed. The thing was that he didn’t blame her one bit. He was pissed too. 

But he didn’t have any choice. He was going to have to cancel their dinner plans tonight. These budget meetings were important to his job and they were lasting longer than anyone wanted. Hotch had to go to bat for the BAU. Other departments were getting million dollar “toys” that they rarely used and he had to fight for tablets and toilet paper. 

He was a frugal man…didn’t want anything they didn’t need. And that’s why he needed to be at these meetings with his papers and his numbers. Garcia had worked hard on these numbers and an entire presentation. He wasn’t sure if the Bureau would listen but he was going to make his case. First he just had to make this phone call. 

Sighing, he pushed his chair back from the desk. Hotch took the cell phone and pushed the number 5. It was ringing and he listened to it, along with the thumping of his nervous heart, in his ear.

“Hey.” Beth’s cheery voice answered the phone.

“Sweetheart…”

“I didn’t even bother to get dressed, Aaron. It’s OK.”

“It’s not OK. This is the third time.”

“I've been keeping count as well.”

“It’s OK to be mad; it’s OK to be pissed.”

“Is that what you want?” she asked.

“Well no, I just…I want you to be honest.”

“Honestly, it fuckin sucks. Honestly I want to yell about it. Honestly, I haven’t seen your face in a couple of weeks and that doesn’t make me happy. Honestly you have a busy job. Honestly, your job sometimes sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” she repeated.

“I'm going to make this up to you.” he said. He shouldn’t have to say that, and she wasn’t asking him to. Still, Hotch felt the need. He always felt the need.

“I like diamonds, Aaron.”

“I think sapphires might be better. They’d bring out your eyes.”

“Expensive jewelry will get you everywhere.”

“I'm so sorry. I know you're upset and I'm sorry.”

“I wish that made me feel better.”

Beth had to be honest, she hated it. There was nothing they could do about his job. If she wanted to be with him then she had to go with the flow. And she definitely wanted to be with him. She was only human though, and sometimes keeping a smile on her face while getting brushed off wasn’t easy. She knew why and she knew how truly sorry he was, but it still wasn’t easy.

“Is Jack with Sam and Jessie tonight?” she asked.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“You could always come over after, if it’s not too late.”

“I don’t want to be that boyfriend, Beth. I don’t want to be the booty call boyfriend.”

“I want to see you. I don’t give a damn if you don’t want to be the booty call boyfriend. Your job has booty call hours, Aaron.”

“I know.”

“So, no sex…no booty calls. Come over, I’ll make a snack, I’ll massage your neck, and tell you all about my week.”

“It'll be hard to keep my hands off of you.” he said.

“Just call me when it’s over, whenever that is.”

“I will. Why do you put up with me?”

“I’ll count the ways when you get here.” Beth replied.

Thanking her for being understanding would probably be insulting. She was but he knew she didn’t always want to be. What choice did she have in the matter? She could stop seeing him, and Hotch didn’t want that. 

They were in a great place in the relationship, minus Hotch sometimes being absent altogether. That had nothing to do with not wanting to be with her. He wanted to be with Beth. Damn, he always wanted to be with Beth. He found himself smiling even though they weren't in the best situation right now.

“I hate doing this to you, Beth.”

“Aaron…”

“No, let me finish, alright? I hate doing this because I want to be with you. I want to have dinner and hold hands and talk about something that’s not the job. I want to kiss you goodnight, or kiss you good morning. I want to be with you. 

“When I'm with you, I'm happy. Work is important and we’re going to have times where you're mad and I'm busy and you’re thinking am I worth it. I don’t know if I am. I just know I want to be with you. So I’ll see you later.”

“You say that and then have to get off the phone?”

“I have to make my meeting. We’ll count the ways when I get there, I promise.”

“Knock ‘em dead, OK?”

“I’ll do my best. I have PowerPoint. It’s hard to argue with PowerPoint.”

“It is.” She laughed. “I…I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Me too.”

Beth smiled on the other end of the phone because she knew what that meant. She was still mad but felt a little better. They would get to spend some time together tonight and no, it wasn’t dinner at a fancy restaurant but it was still time. His time was precious. 

If he wanted to spend it with her then she was precious too. That was nice to know since Beth was in love. She could get really hurt in this. Aaron would never do it on purpose but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.

“One more thing before you go.” She said.

“Anything.”

“Don’t use terms of endearment to soften the blow, Aaron. It just makes it so that every time I hear them I expect to be let down. They’re supposed to be something that make us smile not resent each other.”

“I understand. I’ll see you soon.”

“Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Just as he hung up the phone, Penelope knocked on the door and stuck her head in his office.

“Boss man its time to get over there. Are you OK?”

“What?”

“I asked were you OK.” Garcia came into the office and stood in front of his desk.

“I'm fine.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Penelope…I'm fine.” Hotch repeated. 

He wasn’t going to talk about it. There was nothing to talk about. He’d let Beth down again. She took it well, again. He needed to make it up to her…again. 

Shouldn’t he be used to this scenario by now; a profiler should've seen it coming. Hotch either needed to let it drag him into the abyss or do something about it. He couldn’t let it drag him into the abyss. The couple had found a precarious balance and held onto each other so they wouldn’t fall over. 

It was really the best he could do. He wasn’t leaving his job and she hadn't asked him to. This was it; this was how he lived. He had to be an FBI agent and make things up to the people he cared about. Until they got tired of it and walked away that's what he had to do.

“I'm ready.” He stood from the desk and put his cell phone in the holder on his hip.

“This presentation is going to be awesome. I don’t know if it'll get us a dime but we’re getting an A for effort.”

“Can we use those to put fuel in the jet?”

“Haha, Hotch made a funny.” Penelope giggled. “You should do that more often; it suits you.”

Hotch nodded as they left his office and headed to the elevator. He wanted to call her, text, something. He needed to apologize again, let her know this didn’t make him happy either. But he’d already done that and didn’t need to beat a dead horse. Hotch would present at the meeting, come back to the office to finish the last of some paperwork, and then go and be the best non-booty call boyfriend ever. 

Sometimes there was no way to make something better in the moment. That didn’t mean that it would never be. Soon the day would end, the night would begin, and Aaron Hotchner would be a happy man. He hoped that Beth was thinking the same thing.

***


End file.
